I Broke What?!

Excuses, excuses.

I'm not interested in excuses. You? Well, that IS my right foot…but it was 3 months ago. That is not my right hand - I think it is a guy's hand - and my brace is way cooler than that and it goes on my left wrist. But, I haven't had to use it for a few days. Today,  I was at my hand, elbow and shoulder doc though. And, that should tell you what kind of a year it has been. I have a hand, elbow, shoulder guy. Have I written about this before? I'll check before I go through all of the gory details, but I will say that I broke my wrist falling off a train in England on my way to graduate school in January. I love saying that. Sick, huh? Great story. Bad fall. But, it really sounds like the start of something… it all started when I fell off the train in Swindon, a sleepy little town between London and Gouchestershire…..

Anyway. Here's where I am (in the background my mind keeps saying, "It's not whether you fall down it whether or not you get up again that matters.")…embarrassingly, not doing much yoga…yet. I hurt my shoulder. The X-rays today showed some arthritis on that big end of the arm bone that goes into your shoulder. I forget the name. I do know that all of those muscles have something to do with the "rotator cuff" or they are it or something. I may have a slight tear, but we're going to see how physical therapy and Aleve do for the next two weeks before we go the MRI route. He offered to give me one of those shots in my shoulder, but I remember having one of those shots in my wrist. No thanks! 

I am really finding it annoying that I know so little about how the body works, and, how it is changing as I age. When I was younger I could get away with almost anything. I could lose weight fast. Injuries would disappear. Shoot, when I was in college and worked at a bar (T.K.Hardy's, if anybody out there is from the University of Georgia) I could even throw kegs of beer around (using the hips helped). But, now, all the bets are off. Things are going to start falling off of me if I'm not careful. 

First things first. I am taking my exercise sheet to the physical therapist tomorrow morning to get those things cleared. I have been doing squats and love getting strength back in my thighs. Those don't use my arms so I know that will be ok. But, honestly, how do you research getting old? Do you Google "whiny chicks aging"? I suppose I ought to go to Amazon. When all else fails buying a book always makes me feel better and surely Dr. Christina… what's her name..the menopause doc? Ha! Christiane Northrup…the first book up when you put "menopause" in Amazon. I'll see what I can come up with.

My apologies for all of those ready to hear tales of glory and yoga. As Eliot said in E.T., "This is reality, Greg!" But, one thing I did learn from quitting smoking cigarettes long, long ago was that every time I quit I got a little closer to when I really DID quit. It has been since September 17th. Uhhh.. 1975 or '76 since I quit a 2-3 pack a day habit. So I can quit and stick. In this case, I need to transform and stick. 

I'm getting a picture in my mind of the me I want to be. I'm talking physical changes here. Healthy changes. If you'll bear with me a little longer I'll share what I learn and I won't give up. I also won't wait this long between posts…and I probably should make them shorter. But, should, should… 

As far as I know I broke nothing other than my stride. So, I pick myself up, dust myself off, and start all over again. It's better than the alternative.